Page 58 of Tapped By My Roommate
My stomach clenched. “Don’t even joke about it.”
She smirked. “Wow. I’ve never met a guy you were into before. I approve.”
I rolled my eyes. “Lucky me. So glad to have your blessing.”
“Seriously. Ethan seems like a great guy,” she said.
I blew out a big breath. “He is, but it’s casual, okay? Don’t make it weird. Just stop flirting with him, because casual or not, I can’t let my baby sister hook up with a guy that I’ve—”
“La-la-la!” she cried. “I can’t hear about that!”
I laughed. “I wasn’t going to give you any details.”
“Thank goodness for that.” She pulled a face. “I wasn’t really hitting on him, you know? I just wanted to feel better. He’s cute, and he seems nice, and…I just wanted to forget about Mitch.”
“I get it.” I tossed a couple more bills on the table to cover the rest of the check. “But speaking of Ethan, he’s waiting out in the car, so how about we get out there?”
She nodded. “Yeah, okay. Even though I can’t look him in the eye now.”
“Eh, he’s pretty oblivious,” I said. “I’m pretty sure he was confused by our argument.”
She sighed. “Great, so he didn’t even notice me? That bodes well for my efforts.”
“Don’t take it too hard. That’s just Ethan.”
“How come you’re not actually dating him?” she asked.
I shook my head. I didn’t have a good answer for that myself. The excuse of being too busy didn’t work well as it used to. Ethan was right there in the apartment. Which made me wonder…had I been avoiding relationships for a different reason than I’d always told myself?
My parents had split up, but that happened to a lot of people. My high school girlfriend had cheated on me, but I hadn’t loved her. The first guy I’d ever tried to date had ghosted me after we’d hooked up, but we hadn’t been serious yet.
I’d told myself those things didn’t matter—even though I’d been disappointed in my father; even though Rachel had betrayed my trust; even though Liam made me question my worth. Taken alone, maybe one of those things wouldn’t have made such an impact. But taken together…perhaps they had jaded me more than I realized.
I couldn’t deny that I’d avoided relationships.
“So?” Audrey prompted as we headed toward Ethan’s Mini Cooper. “That’s all I get. You don’t have a reason?”
“I don’t know. It’s just not… I don’t date, and even if I did, I don’t know if he’d want that.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” she said.
“Yeah, thanks,” I said wryly.
Advice from a sixteen-year-old. That’s what I’d been reduced to. But tonight had been eye-opening in a lot of ways. I enjoyed what I had with Ethan, and the idea of him interested in someone else was…not good, even someone not related to me. The boundaries were starting to blur between friends who hooked up and something more.
The question was: Should I reinforce them, or did I let them come down?
16
ETHAN
Iwalked into the apartment, feeling awkward and unsettled. Rhett and Audrey had seemed fine when they made it to the car, but I still wasn’t sure I understood the argument they’d had. I wasn’t totally oblivious. I knew he’d been arguing that I was too old for Audrey, butwhyhad he felt it was necessary? She’d only been using me as an example of how older guys were more considerate, hadn’t she? And surely Rhett knew I wouldn’t be interested in a teenage girl—or his sister at any age.
It’s just my roommate.The words played on repeat. Maybe he wasn’t sure because we weren’t dating. We were hooking up—exclusively—but we could dissolve that arrangement at any time.
Rhett followed me inside the apartment and closed the door. “Thanks again for driving.”
“No problem.” I shifted uncomfortably. “Like you said, you didn’t reallyneedme to do it.”
